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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Oriental Interiors and the British Elite

Taylor Speer-Sims

March 24, 2012

Oriental Interiors

and the British Elite

As Britain forged into the new lands
that would become colonies, those that entered there found interest in the
culture. This had not so much been interest in becoming like those foreign
peoples, but interest in their wealth in art. Some Brits did “go native” but
most had still felt a superiority of breed that would hinder this type of
integration. They instead showed their superiority to other worldly cultures by
procuring pieces specifically for the display within their elite mansions back
home. Other Englishmen that did not travel found that they had to have some
sort of orientalism displayed to be considered a member of the beau monde.

Oriental pieces were a necessity for
anyone of the British elite, but they were also a form of personal pleasure.
Exotic romance with the noble savage found itself equal to the Romantic
movement. Picturesque details combined superbly with the less formal style of
orientalism. These pieces had been of the highest quality and reflected that by
their price. Only the very best of society could have the oriental objects to
reside their stately halls.

English society had conflicting
opinions on colonization. The idea of having children colonies was very
appealing. Men of means held the idea that the mother country parented those of
the juvenile colonies. As a parental figure, those men of England believed that
they would raise their offspring in their image to be slightly less great then
they. Some even argued that the colonies could be as great as England, but this
was not generally acknowledged.[1]

Other
reasons for the procreation of colonies had been purely selfish on the part of
the English. These children were to supply their mother country with food. They
were not to take part of their abundance completely, but to make sure that
their parent land received the best of the produce. Raw materials, for British
manufacture, were just another part of the duties of the colonials.[2]
Not only were these to be handed over, they were to be given in gladness for
the good of the Empire. So it followed, that the arts produced in the colonies
would also be handed to the source from which they were to have sprung.

Springing forth British idealism
into other countries had been the reason behind expansionism.[3]
Liberal imperialism created the greatest Empire in the world at the time.
England wanted to spread their ideas to make others happy in their endeavors to
create that Empire.[4]British men also felt their nationalism in
expansion. Glory and national pride had certainly been a huge reason in taking
over control of foreign lands.[5]
Along with those lands, came control of the peoples that lived there.

Controlling peoples may not
necessarily have been a reason for expansion. While it did create a sense of
power for those in charge, there is no evidence that this had been a specific
goal. This did, however, become part of the process. Making sure that the
colonists had been doing what they were supposed to seems more likely. This, of
course, meant making profits for England, as well as those Englishmen that just
happened to be the middlemen. Profits had not only been in the form of
currency. Acquisitioned wealth had also been in items that were meant to
visually impress others.[6]

Acquisitioned Oriental items
impressed those that did not leave their homeland. It also affected those
persons that did visit other locations. Elite homeowners placed items in
conspicuous locations so that the host would appear worldly. While some pieces
were definitely placed in personal areas, these pieces were very expensive. So,
the idea had been to elevate the owner of the home to an ever more prestigious
place in their society by making sure that all visitors would see their
prosperity.

Only
the wealthiest could afford the best pieces of the Orient. The British elite
used their Oriental art pieces to separate themselves from those that could not
afford to have any. Elitism had certainly been part of the British culture for
generations, as well as finding visual ways to differentiate the swells from
the lower classes. Adding obvious pieces from a foreign land was an easy
maneuver for the elite. Not only would they have something to show status, they
would also have an acquired article of fashion[7].

Fashion
trends for the homes of the rich meant that certain items were expected. Having
an Oriental object was expected for any proper member of the beau monde.[8]
Up to date fashion was certainly a requirement for any sensitive individual.
They were very concerned with the impression that they would make on others.[9]
Keeping up with fashion trends was not necessarily just an individual trying to
keep up with their neighbors. This was also important for social interaction.[10]
Therefore, an individual who wanted to stay within their social sphere would
have had to mimic others from within their own sphere, or those a higher status
level.

One
fashion trend that fit in well with Orientalism was that of the Romantics. The
Romantics wanted to get back to nature, and to a simpler way of life. However,
the idea had been more romanticized than what reality actually was. In fact
many of the Romantic poets and painters did not actually visit the Orient. Lord
Byron did, and had been much praised for it.[11]
Byron made the most boring topics beautiful. In “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,
Canto 3”, Byron wraps the reader into his poetry with“The loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds and snow; … Must look
down on the hate of those below.”[12]
This piece is thought to be autobiographical, and about his personal trip to
the Orient. In any case, this line does make the reader very much in love with
exotic lands and to distance themselves from those that do not.

Soirees where Byron attended had
been considered a smash, and every lady there fell in love him and the romance
associated with him. Romance of the Orient had not been created by Byron, but
he certainly enhanced it. Romantic feelings were also shown in paintings that
included Oriental themes. Romance novels that included Arabian sheikhs falling
in love with a white British woman have been popular for generations. These
novels generally encouraged the stereotype of Eastern brutality, and exotic
manhood. They also showedthe white female
heroine from a much more civilized culture.[13]

Oriental
romance novels were just the female form of eroticism that the foreign lands
ignited. Men also believed that the oriental person was more erotic than that
of their English counterparts. The idea that the Oriental women only belonged
in the harem was another point of the Eastern allure. Men wanted their English
women to be respectable, but they still had fantasies about foreign, sexual
women[14].
These fantasies not only encouraged the Western ideal of nationality, they also
encouraged the Western ideal of masculinity. Sexuality had been criticized in
the West, yet was open in the East. This fact alone made Oriental fantasies
abundant.

All
Oriental features appeared foreign and exotic to most English.[15]
During the late 18th Century, and early 19th century,
Britain found itself creating the idea that the people outside their
geographical location where considered to be the “others”.[16]
This differentiation could certainly have included physical characteristics, as
well as cultural. It could also include characteristics of the items that the
British imported into their homes. While the “other” aspects of the Oriental
pieces were considered exotic, they were also sought after for their
aesthetics.

Aesthetic,
as well as tactile qualities of the articles from the exotic Orient were very
much in demand. Some items had pictures that told stories to the
daydreamer.Other pieces had been
chosen because of the charm that the article possessed. Pieces were also chosen
to represent a time in someone’s life. Some articles were sent home to remind
the owner about their visit to a specific location, or because of a military
battle, etc. Other items were chosen because the way they felt against the
skin. Silk and wool items could certainly have been chosen because of their
tactile qualities.[17]

Not
all qualities of the foreign artwork would seem apparent today. Oriental
pieces, during the greatest days of the British Empire had been considered less
formal. Rigidity in the English homes had been extreme. Foreign households had
been believed to be less formal. So, many Oriental pieces were incorporated
into the new, less confined, domestic atmosphere. Older generations were
believed to hold their households, in fact their lives, very orderly. Every
item had its own place, and belonged in its own room. Items were not
transported throughout the house.[18]However, younger generations wanted to show
that they were different, less stiff then their parents. So, they believed in a
less formal way of living. This was true during the times of George III and the
Regency, as well as Victoria and Edward.Having
Oriental pieces throughout the house indicated a more liberal environment.[19]

Owners
of Oriental pieces would show them off. This was done by placing them in areas
such as the front parlor, formal dining room, etc. to make sure that they had
the highest possible visitor exposure.[20]
Discussions about these works were encouraged because this would highlight the
sophistication of the owner. Any size piece from any land would have been found
located next to something from any other area of the world. It did not matter
that they were not of the same culture. What mattered was that they were
exotic. The British did not differentiate locals for their orientalism. The
point was that they were just different.[21]

The
difference between Chinese and Japanese had been completely irrelevant. These
two cultures were too similar to command much notice. Pictures of ladies in
kimonos abounded on many pieces of artwork. The Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e, appeared
in porcelain dishes that had been extremely popular in British households.[22]
Japanese screens were also popular (this author has one from 1920). However,
these items were found in the same households, and were proudly displayed
simultaneously.

Paintings
of Chinese ladies had been popular on walls of the mansions as well. Romantic
scenes of love, including Chinese weddings were popular. Cherry blossoms
painted on walls in rooms and halls were not only beautiful, but they welcomed
the visitor into a relaxed home. Whicker furniture could be found in living
rooms, as well as outdoor rooms. Saltram House not only had portraits of
beautiful Chinese ladies in Moroccan frames, it also has Chinese wallpaper,
Chinese Chippendale furniture. Saltram’s rooms were called “darkly Oriental”.[23]

Oriental
paintings were not always painted directly on the walls of the British
Aristocratic homes. Many paintings of British men in Oriental clothing abounded
during the height of the British Empire. Lord Byron was in fact painted in
Eastern clothing. Delacroix visited Spain and morocco and delivered many
Oriental pieces with Islamic and Jewish overtones. Massacre atChios,
painted in 1824 holds Eastern brutality within its beauty.[24]Death of Sardanapalus in 1827 is this author’s favorite because of the
color, feeling and passion that were displayed within his Oriental scene.[25]
Paintings eight feet tall of Eastern Jewish men were hung proudly in the hall
at Auckland Castle in 1756, and remain there to this day.[26]

Eastern
ornamental carpets were the most sought after item. Carpets from Turkey were
the most prized, but these rugs were from other lands as well. Oriental carpets
had not just been used on the floor. People would have walked on them! They had
also been used on tables,across chairs
and used as bed spreads.[27]
The Persian carpet was so romantic, that many girls must surely have dreamt of
Aladdin and his lamp, or boys fighting a really bad, evil Sheikh.

The
bad Napoleon tried, but failed, to invade Egypt. What he did accomplish,
however, was to bring Egypt into the consciousness of the Western world.[28]
Egyptian pieces became all the rage. Chaise lounges, carved in the Egyptian
style, recommended themselves as having belonged to Cleopatra. Western ladies
would certainly have had daydreams that they were Cleopatra, and that their
lover, Mark Antony, was expected to sweep in at any moment. Egyptian style
would later come to be specific to the fields of medicine and death. This was
because the modern medical field was considered to have originated in the Nile
Valley and of the great monuments to the elite Pharaohs and their afterlife.[29]

Homes
of the British elite had people, as well as Oriental animals living within.
Exotic birds, such as parrots, snakes and apes had been brought in as pets for
the British elite. These animals had been considered beautiful and superior.[30]
The organ grinder and dancing monkey who wore the same fez, vest and pantaloons
was an easily recognizable scene. Monkeys as pets were less common, yet this
did occur in Britain. Imported from China, India and Africa, these primates
were housed as substitutes for children as well as status symbols.[31]

Oriental
status symbols did play a part in the lives and households of the British
Elite. Colonization created new sources of artwork. Imperialism made the
British believe that they had the more civilized nation, and used Oriental
pieces to indicate power and elitism. Oriental artworks were not only the
height of fashion, but they initiated romantic dreams. These foreign pieces
fell in with Romantic ideals and indicated exotic, erotic locals. They were
beautiful. And, they represented what was, and what might have been. Oriental
pieces were never shunned. They were conspicuously visible to indicate wealth
and position of the owner. The truth was not always pretty, but the Oriental
pieces always were. After all, only the best of beaux monde could afford these
pieces. So, of course the owner was obviously the best of British society.

[1] Edward
Gibbon, Wakefield, ed. A View of the Art of Colonization: With Present
Reference to the British Empire; In Letters Between a Statesman and a Colonist.
(Ontario, Canada: Batoche Books Limited, 1849.), 9.
http://apus.aquabrowser.com//?itemid=%7clibrary%2fm%2fapus%7cebr2001958.
(accessed March 20, 2012).

[15] Lynn Hunt
et all. The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures Volume I: To 1740 A

Concise History. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2003), 587.

[16] Bjoern
Hartmann. “Delacroix at Home and Abroad: A Comparative Analysis of Early French
Orientalism.” Self published, April 18, 2002.
http://bjoern.org/papers/hartmann_arth284_delacroix.pdf. (accessed March 24,
2012).